The quarantine has provided an endless amount of content for music lovers during a very dark time. Last night, two iconic hip hop producers took to a live stream to go head to head and hit for hit.
Mannie Fresh and Scott Storch are two legendary hiphop producers who produced the majority of the songs on my teenage soundtrack. The two worked with everyone from Juvenile to The Roots, and built the beats for multiple chart topping hits.
Mannie Fresh is a staple in southern hip hop. Many could argue that without him behind the boards Cash Money records would have been a failed project. He was the producer behind Big Tymers hits such as, "Get Your Roll On," "Number One Stunna," and Juvenile's timeless, "Back That Azz Up."
Fresh further went on to work with the likes of Southern Hip Hop icons such as T.I., Jeezy, and Lil Wayne. It could be mentioned that the majority of Wayne's early success came from the beats Fresh made in Hollygrove, and catapulted the New Orleans Rap scene onto the map.
Scott Storch was based out of Miami, by way of Pennsylvania, and was a commercial success from working with hip hop heavy hitters, such as: Dr, Dre, 50 Cent, and Fat Joe's Terror Squad. If you ever listened to any radio hip hop in the early 2000s, you had your head bobbing to a Scott Storch production.
Storch was a pioneer when it came to making beats. He was known for smoking blunt after blunt while getting his haircut in his studio. He was someone that worked around the clock to turn out hits that would change the landscape of main stream hip hop.
Victory in the battle was perceived by many internet users to have gone to Storch. It's hard to argue after looking at his catalog that he wasn't one of the most sought after producers in the early 2000s, and even recently put out a track with Roddy Rich.
However, southern hip hop evolution starts with Mannie Fresh and what he did for southern rappers as far back as the 1990s. Fresh was the literal heartbeat behind Cash Money that laid the beat to their success.
Just Blaze took to his IG live to inform his followers, "Without me there would have been a different era of Rocafella, but without Kanye there woulda been a different of Rocafella." He then went on to say, "Without Mannie Fresh there would've been no Cash Money."
People sleep on legendary albums like "400 Degrees" and "The Block is Hot." Mannie Fresh single handedly made sure those albums remained in our hearts, and iTunes, way past their prime.
But, we also got pairings of 50 Cent and Storch during the height of 50's career. Some could argue that 50 revived the mainstream hip hop scene from New York after Jay-Z went overly commercial, and went from a businessman to a BUSINESS, man.
However, Storch tore up the charts with hits like, "Run It," or, "Gimmie That," by Chris Brown, and made the ladies vibe when he teamed up with Beyonce ft. Sean Paul on, "Baby Boy." All three songs rocked at my first prom.
Overall, Storch won the battle by flexing hits from his monster catalog, but there is no discredit to Fresh. The two icons share a mutual respect and know what each other did for the game.
Maybe I'll drop a short mix with only Storch and Fresh bangers?